Boost Awareness

One of the key areas of weakness among the Cleveland entrepreneurial ecosystem is awareness. Internally, many founders and ecosystem enthusiasts are unaware of each other leading to missed opportunities and competitive relationships. Externally, corporate leaders, other startup ecosystems, and the public are unclear about the ecosystem members and how they may be able to help or take advantage of it.

Tools to boost internal awareness:

Company Showcase Events

Pitch Nights

Company Directory

Enthusiast Directory

Company Profiles

Enthusiast Profiles

Profile Podcast

Tools to boost external awareness:

Company Showcase Events

Road Show Events (SXSW, Disrupt, Launch, FounderCon)

Press Outreach

Build Community

Additionally, we need to build a stronger sense of community among ecosystem members and facilitate tighter and more trusting relationships. Spread out geography and competitive sentiment make the ecosystem weak and require effort to build over time.

Tools to boost community:

Facebook/Email/Slack Comms

Recurring Coffee Meetings

Founder Only Dinners

Member and Leader Office Hours

Support Groups

Social Nights

Educate

Finally, a major component of making our ecosystem a success is to ensure that all parties have the same baseline of information and lexicon for discussion.